


reunions

by siojo



Series: Younger Luffy AU [8]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Amnesia, Drunkenness, Little bit of angst, M/M, Recovery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-04
Updated: 2016-07-04
Packaged: 2018-07-20 01:33:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7385602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/siojo/pseuds/siojo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ace doesn't drink this much usually. He likes to pretend that the hallucinations are there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	reunions

Ace tries not to drink so much that he starts to hallucinate. Or forget to ignore them. Sabo still pops up when things are at their worst and Ace likes to pretend he’s perfectly healthy and sane these days. What with Luffy to watch over and Marco expecting him to be a responsible adult.

Which is why, when Sabo walks in the door to the bar, Ace grins and waves, already moving across the room to drag him into a free chair.

“Ace?” Marco asks.

Ace blinks up at him, “This is Sabo. I’ve gotta talk to him.”

“Alright.” 

Marco looks confused and Ace flinches. He’ll explain it later, when he’s not got Sabo sitting at a table. He’s hasn’t seen Sabo in months, which means this talk is going to take forever.

“Where have you been?” Ace asks, focusing back on Sabo.

He’s not sure he likes the hints towards Sabo’s fiery death in the burn marks on his face, but the top hat and cravat aren’t singed, so Ace will take it as a good sign. 

Now, Sabo just had to avoid bursting into flames while they spoke or else it would turn out to be of those times.

“Looking for you?” Sabo offers.

Ace frowns, “We did leave the Moby pretty quickly. And you did say you were going to check out Alabasta.”

There was a muffled,  _‘You went to Alabasta?’_ that was followed by a  _‘I’ve never been to Alabasta!’._

“Who’s your friend?”

“This is Koala.” Sabo says slowly. “I met her in Alabasta?”

“Hello, Koala!”

She smiles, it looks strained, Ace nudges his glass towards her. “Thank you.”

“You’re Sabo’s friend, means that we have to be friendly.” Ace says easily. “Even if he’s a stupid little brother.”

Sabo sputters, “I’m not your brother!”

Ace looks wounded, pouting as he turns back to Sabo, “We’re brothers, you were the one who decided we were brothers. You made me steal sake so we could drink to being brothers.” He turns to Marco. “My little brother forgot me!”

“Well, you did say he died.” Marco says slowly.

“That was years ago, he’s been hovering around since then. He’s a figment of my mind, he should remember these things,” Ace whines. “Don’t make that face.”

Marco’s face blanks, “What face?”

“That one. The one where you look at me all sad.” Ace complains. “It’s just..”

“Hovering?” Koala asks curiously.

Ace nods, “Yeah. I saw his boat blow up and everything. We were ten see and his parents were jerks. Which is why we lived in the middle of the woods.” He trails off. “It got really lonely afterwards, but you know, crazy hallucinations.”

“Ah,” Koala finishes his glass. “Can I have another?”

Ace signals Makino, who doesn’t try to cut him off like she had last time. Sabo looks pale and his hands are curled into fists on the table.

“Are you okay?” Ace questions.

“No,” Sabo answers. “I’m really not okay.”

“Was it Stelly? Did you go check up on your parents again? I told you to stop doing that, they’re jerks and you shouldn’t care what they think of you. You’re the best little brother.”

Ace startles as Sabo bursts into tears, glancing to Koala for help, but she’s crying too. He stares at them both in horror.

“I’m sorry? Marco, what do I do?”

“I think it’s time for bed, come on. We’ll talk to Sabo and Koala tomorrow, after they’ve calmed down.”

Ace nods, “Okay. Don’t cry, okay Sabo, Marco says we’ll talk about it tomorrow. I’m sure that we can figure out what’s wrong then.”

“Yeah,” Sabo sobs into his hands. “That sounds good.”

“Good.”

–

Ace groans as the light hits his face, his headache barely there, as he tired to burrow into his pillow to escape. A hand settled on the back of his head.

“You okay?” Marco asks.

Ace mutters something, shifting to press their sides together, his left hand curling loosely into Marco’s top. Marco snorts, hand still in Ace’s hair, brushing through it.

“Alright. Izo and Thatch agreed to take Luffy for the morning, since Makino would be around. Do you remember what happened last night?”

Oh. Ace flushes, nodding.

“Alright.” Marco sighs. “Ace, why didn’t you say that you sometimes hallucinated?”

“It’s usually when I forget to take my medicine. The narcolepsy will merge with a bit of paralysis and hallucinations.” He resists the urge to glance up. “I remembered my medicine.”

Marco hums, “And the ones of Sabo?”

Ace flinches, “I was that drunk huh?”

“Hm.”

“He died. An-and I was lonely.” Ace isn’t proud of it, he should have been stronger. Like Shitty Geezer was always telling him to be. “He-he was just an imaginary friend at first.”

Marco doesn’t move, not even when Ace buries his face into Marco’s side, his hand sliding from Ace’s head to Ace’s back.

“I was,” Ace sniffs. “I was ten and the rest of the kids didn’t want to play with me, cause I beat up any body who spoke poorly of my father. I didn’t know that it wasn’t good until Makino said something.”

“So you brought him back so you wouldn’t be all alone.” Marco says slowly.

Ace nods, “I thought I was getting better. He doesn’t come around as often and I don’t think he’s ever brought back a friend. Maybe it’s because I’ve made friends too?”

“I see.” Marco sighs. “Come on, let’s get breakfast. But Ace?”

“Yeah?”

“Next time you see something you don’t think is real, I want you to tell me.”

“Okay.”

His shirt falls ontop of his head, “Now get up,” Ace jolts sputtering at Marco, who laughs. “Breakfast.”

“Breakfast.”

–

“So,” Koala says slowly, her arms behind her head. “Wanna talk about it?”

“Not really.” Sabo answers.

“Too bad. So brother?”

Sabo sighs, “Ace and I spent a few years running around together. We called each other brothers. And apparently he started hallucinating me when I vanished.”

Koala flinches, “Well, he cares about you?”

“Thank you, Koala. That’s just what I wanted to hear after listening to and remembering what I left Ace alone to deal with.” Sabo snaps.

She shrugs in surrender, going into the bar from the night before first. She steps to the left after entering. Sabo follows, hand going to his hat.

“Ah,” Sabo startles at Ace’s voice and the way he’s staring blankly past Sabo instead of at him. “Marco?”

Marco glances back, “Yes?”

“The door.”

“Is open. A man in a top hat and a girl in what is not a top hat.” Marco answers.

Ace nods slowly, “I see. Blonde?”

“Hm.”

Sabo freezes as Ace stands and marches towards him, he doesn’t even move when Ace lifts his hand in the world’s most obvious punch, letting it slam into his nose hard enough that something cracks.

“You asshole!”

“Ah,” Sabo tilts his head back as blood pours from his nose. “Hello again Ace?”

“You fucking died. I cried and Dadan cried. And you didn’t even have the decency to come back and let us know you weren’t dead?” Ace’s voice cracks and his eyes water. “You couldn’t, not even.”

“ACE!” Luffy bounces between them, grabbing at Ace’s shorts and blinking down at Sabo. “Why did you punch Napkin man?”

Ace frowns, “Napkin man?”

“Yeah, he works for my dad.” Luffy explains, before frowning at Sabo. “I don’t wanna talk to you today either, so go away and don’t be mean to Ace. Ace is my brother and he cares about me.”

“I didn’” Sabo sputters. “Wasn’t doin’ anything.”

“Ace wouldn’t have punched you if you hadn’t done something. Ace says that it’s rude to punch someone for no reason.”

Sabo snorts, even though it hurts, “Rude ta punch someone with outta reason?”

“Shut up,” Ace hisses. “You’ve been dead for eight years what do you know about being rude!”

“Not dead, amnesia.” Sabo insists. “I had amnesia,” He pulls his hands away from his nose. “Shit, you punch better these days”

“You should see what happens when I add fire to it,” Ace smiles sharply.


End file.
